Yesterday was the second and final day of the post-draft minicamp. It was primarily for rookies, but Coach Singletary asked numerous veterans to come to camp if they didn't have prior important plans. No word on if anybody elected not to come to camp.
Nate Davis, pictured to the right, missed the first day of practice with a hamstring issue. However, he bounced back to get some throws in with what I assume was a quasi-third team offense. Apparently his best throw was a nice completion to backup, backup, backup wide receiver Micheal Spurlock. Either way, it will be interesting to see the kind of playing time that Nate Davis can garner in training camp and the preseason. He'll be playing with mostly second and third stringers.
Of course that also raises the question of what happens with Damon Huard. I'd imagine they'll keep him around well into training camp to see what happens on the injury front. Nate Davis won't be going on the practice squad and the team won't be carrying 4 QBs, so Huard knows his only chance of making the roster is if one of the three QBs gets injured. If Hill/Smith/Davis remain healthy, Huard will be cut sometime before the end of camp.
Speaking of the QB situation, Jimmy Raye was finally allowed to speak to the media and he addressed the QB competition, among other things:
Raye was asked if he had a timeline on this year's competition between Shaun Hill and Alex Smith. The short answer is, no. Raye said that he would let the competition "run its course," and if it ran into training camp, so be it.
One key difference is that last year's OC, Mike Martz, didn't think much of the top two QBs that offseason, Hill and Smith. That doesn't seem to be the case with Raye. He seems to have a much more nurturing, fatherly style than Martz had (especially with Hill). "I like them. I like them both," Raye said. "I like the competitive rivalry between the two of them. I think when it's all said and done, the best player will come out of this and we'll have, between the two of them, we'll have the best quarterback for what we're trying to do."
Obviously we don't know much of anything following a quick two-day minicamp. The 49ers will head into their OTAs in a couple weeks and I'd imagine Shaun Hill holds the edge in the QB competition. Speaking of the OTAs, in the past they've been in June, but this 49ers.com article indicates they start in two weeks.
If I had to point to the biggest gain from this minicamp, it would be that younger veterans were in town, even if they were not participating in practice. The best example of this was Joe Staley, who observed the opening day of practice in street clothes. While that isn't going to make him any better of a left tackle, I'll take anything like this that helps build the comraderie in the locker room.
That's about it for now. We'll be back this week with any more details that leak out about minicamp. In the meantime, hopefully everybody will be able to survive until OTAs kick off in a couple weeks.